Damaged exports: Dynamics and limits of governance reform in Southeast Asia

Abstract

Governance reform is the main policy for a number of international and domestic aid agencies. Under the rubric of governance reform are diverse programs ranging from those for anti‐corruption to those for civil society promotion programs. Although these programs have had limited success, governance programs are continually being promoted and implemented byinternational organizations and political forces in developing, newly industrialized states. Why? One reason for this persistence is that these programs—despite failing in their erstwhile objectives—nevertheless constitute a shift in modes through which power is exercised. These programs often create new modalities of political rule, which form the basis of new state strategies. This paper draws particular attention to the importance of governance programs in nurturing new forms of political rule through a process of depoliticization.